| Title |
Influence of Different Operational pH Conditions and Granulation on Enhanced Biological Sequencing Batch Phosphorus Removal |
| Authors |
안조환 ( Jo Hwan Ahn ) ; ( Robert Seviour ) |
| Keywords |
EBPR; Granulation; PAOs; SEM-EDX; TFOs |
| Abstract |
A sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was operated under different pH conditions to better understand the influence of pH to granulation in enhanced biological phosphorus removal systems. Granules from the SBR were also investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Considerable decreases in the amount of phosphorus released per substrate provided under anaerobic conditions and the content of biomass polyphosphate under aerobic conditions were observed when pH was changed from 7.5 to 7.0, followed by 6.5. Aerobic granulation was also observed at pH 7.0. A number of bacteria with the typical morphological traits of tetrad-forming organisms (TFOs) were observed at pH 7.0, including large members of cluster. Filamentous bacteria were also there in large numbers. The occurrence and growth of granules were further enhanced at pH 6.5. A SEM analysis showed that the aerobic granules had a compact microbial structure with shaperical shape and morphologically consisted of aggregates of small coccoid bacteria and filamentous bacteria encapsulated by extracellular polymeric substance. The main material ions identified by EDX moreover revealed that the structural materials for polyphosphate in the granules include phosphorus, potassium and calcium. Therefore, these results strongly suggested that PAOs are a dominant population in the microbial community of the aerobic granules. |